I had never heard of “Mixue” before reading Tom Whitwell’s 52 things I learned in 2025. To learn about Mixue, I turn to the post cited to by Mr. Whitwell, The story of Mixue by Sam Tang. Mr. Tang explains that Mixue is a fast food chain in China run by two brothers who started out selling shaved ice in 1997. The post is interesting and well-worth reading, but I single out the same fact that Mr. Whitwell did (quoting Mr. Tang):

As of Q3’24, Mixue operates more than 45,000 stores globally (only 20 being self-owned). This makes it the largest food chain worldwide by store count.

Sam Tang

According to Newsweek, as of September 2024, about 90% of Mixue’s approximately 45,000 outlets were located in China, while noting that some of the non-China locations are found in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia. The Economist noted that there were no Mixue locations in the United States as of March 7, 2025 (perhaps that is why I never heard of it). It is worth noting that Mixue’s business model is different than some other big chains. According to BBC, “[u]nlike Starbucks, which operates more than half of its stores directly, almost all of Mixue’s outlets are run by franchises.” Mr. Tang explained that Mixue generates “revenue primarily by providing raw materials and equipment to franchisees (97% of their revenue), rather than collecting hefty franchise fees or taking a share of profits.” There may be some other caveats in assessing what the world’s biggest fast food chain is. For example, BBC noted that the 45,000 number was “according to Mixue,” which touted the big total for slightly eclipsing McDonald’s and Starbucks, which it placed at “over 43,000” and “40,576” respectively. But regardless of how you count, it sounds like Mixue is doing big business in China and in the markets (I am good though, I think we already have enough junk food options).